Robert St Vincent Sherbrooke entered the Royal Navy after studying at Osborne and Dartmouth. Before the Second World War he served in battleships, monitors, light cruisers, and destroyers, attended several staff courses, and already held destroyer command. Large interwar exercises let officers test tactics under intense competitive pressure. One exercise involved Sandy Woodward disguising his ship as an Indian merchant vessel to ambush an American aircraft carrier. Sherbrooke went on to command Wakeful, Cossack, Afridi, Matabele, Onslow, and Aurora, including three Tribal-class destroyers. His career shows the practical and institutional experience available to the wartime Royal Navy.
Chapter · 1:48-5:18
Robert Sherbrooke's route to destroyer command
Sherbrooke entered the Second World War with staff training, service across several warship types, and repeated destroyer commands behind him.